social psychology

social psychology

study of how the actual, implied, and imagined presence of others influence our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors

humans are social beings, we have fundamental needs that makes us susceptible to social influence. what needs are they?

• belongingness

• understanding

• control

• self enhancement

• trust

social influence

the ways people impact one another’s mental states & behavior

“presence” of others can be..

• actual: physically present in the same space

• implied: stimuli around that implies the presence of others

• imagined: thoughts about other people or feelings that other’s can see you

social artifacts

(human made objects) imply the interests/presence of others

kurt lewin’s framework

behavior is a function of the person and the environment/situation

personal variables (kurt lewins)

• personality

• morality

situational variables (kurt lewins)

• mood

• time of day

• other people’s behaviors

• how tired you are

• your emotional state

• what’s at stake

two axioms of social psychology

constructivism & situationism

constructivism

• our view of reality is

  • created by our perception

  • shaped by cognitive and social processes

situationism

the primary determinant of behavior is the social context in which it occurs

• influenced by social roles

• we are unaware of these pressures

the standford prison experiment is controversial for many reasons..

• ethics

• experimenter bias: participants given assigned roles, it wasn’t blind

• demand characteristics: participants knew what the study was about, and could’ve “hammed” up their performance

social roles

defined patterns of behavior that are expected of people in a specific setting or group

• often implicit

strong situation hypothesis

the extent to which a situation influences behavior depends on the strength of the situation

the stronger the situation, the ___ situation determines behavior

more

what types of cognition impact our perception?

• bias

• past learning

• representativeness: things I can quickly bring to mind

social processes influenced by

• social norms

• attitudes

constructivism affects

• fashion

• music

• comedy

• almost every social setting imaginable!

naive realism

believing we see the world as it “really is”

• persists despite knowledge of constructivism

_____ is frequently a stronger influence on behavior than are a person’s ____.

social situations, characteristics

lewins equation

behavior = f(person, social situation)

social psychologist believe the study of social behavior should be empirical

based on the collection and systematic analysis of observable data

3 major research designs used

• observational

• correlational

• experimental

observational research goal

to create a snapshot of the current state of affairs

observational research advantages/disadvantages

adv: provides a relatively complete picture of what is occuring at a given time. allows the development of questions for further study

dis: does not assess the relationships between variables

correlational research goal

to assess the relationship between two or more variables

correlational research advantages/disadvantages

adv: allows the testing of expected relationships between variables and the making of predictions. can assess these relationships in everyday life events

dis: cannot be used to draw inferences about the casual relationships between variables

experimental research goal

to assess the casual impact of one or more experimental manipulations on a dependent variable

experimental research advantages/disadvantages

adv: allows the drawing of conclusions about the casual relationships among variables

dis: cannot experimentally manipulate many important variables. may be expensive and take much time to conduct

conceptual variables

variables that form the hypothesis, are assessed using measured variables using self report, behavioral, or neuroimaging measures for ex

self concept

knowledge/beliefs about ourselves

• knowledge that we exist as individuals

• traits, characteristics, abilities, values, goals, roles

sources of self knowledge

1. appraisals from others: other’s assessments of us

2. social comparison: how we measure up to other people

3. self perception: observations we make about our own actions

how do we know ourselves?

• begins with self recognition

  • ability to recognize yourself as an individual

• seen in human and non-human primates

self concept in early childhood

categories of self understanding:

• confusion of self, mind, and body

• concrete descriptions

• physical descriptions

• active descriptions

• positive view of self

  • rarely use social comparison

  • do not separate real and ideal self

self concept in middle childhood

key characteristics of self understanding

• psychological characteristics/traits - “nice”/”dumb”

• social descriptions - “catholic”, “girl scout”

• social comparisons

• compare real to idea self

• more realistic concept

self concept in adolescence

key characteristics of self understanding

• abstract and idealistic thinking

• self consciousness

• contradictions within the self

• fluctuating self

• develop possible selves - potential goals we may meet

self concept in adulthood

key characteristics of self understanding

• self awareness - understanding of psychological makeup

  • many people are bad at this

  • can help us address weaknesses

• possible selves- revise and become closer to real self as we age

looking glass self

we use others’ perceptions of us to determine who we are

• can be explicit or implied

reflected self appraisal

our beliefs about what others think of us

• the degree that this is true varies by culture and individual

• do not always match how others see us (inaccuracy can be positively or negatively biased)

social comparison

we compare ourselves with others

• want to know where we “stand” on an attribute

• we tend to over or underestimate traits in ourselves and others

downward comparison

comparing ourselves to those worse off on an attribute

upward comparison

comparing ourselves to those who are better off an attribute

self serving bias

the tendency to perceive self favorably

better than average effect

tendency to rank oneself higher than most people on positive attributes

• statistically, most people should be average or close to it

dunning kruger effect

• the less we know or the less experience we have, the more competent we think we are

• cognitive bias

• “ignorance of ignorance”